How to Play As Monsters In Diablo III

Introduction

The week Diablo III came out in May of 2012, I figured out how to morph my character's appearance into literally any one of the monsters in the game, similar to how many of us have done in Diablo II. I've been doing this for years having so much fun and now that I've figured out how to edit the player's scale, add particle effects and even morph his weapon, I think it's time for me to share with you my secret.

DISCLAIMER!!! I will only teach you how to change the APPEARANCE, ANIMATION, SIZE and SPECIAL PARTICLE FX of your character. I will NOT teach you how to do anything that Blizzard can construe as cheating such as changing your character's stats or giving him spells or attacks that the player characters normally don't have access to. Again, I have been using this trick every time I have played for years now and have not gotten banned once. This is because it is NOT cheating. If you try and tamper with anything else about your character other than his appearance and you get banned, I will NOT be held accountable!

Here's A Preview Of What You Can Do!

Preparation

As with all of my modding tutorials, I like to start with a list of things you need to download in order to do this. Fortunately for you, there's literally only one thing you need and that is Cheat Engine. You can download Cheat Engine right here!

You would have had to also download CASC Viewer so that you could browse the CASC files and tediously search through tons and tons of hexadecimal code to locate the SNOs for the AnimSet SNO and AppearanceSet SNO of whatever character you wanted to morph and also whatever creature you wanted to morph into, but I've already spent hours upon hours doing that for you, for every last creature in the game. You're welcome. :D

STEP 1. Swapping The Player Model

The first step is to load up your game. Diablo III doesn't allow modding, so you have to manually memory edit your appearance swap every time you boot up, but that's okay cause I've done everything I can to make it quick and easy for you. I literally swap my appearance every time I play and it takes me only all of two minutes to get the appearance and animations swapped, change the scale (if I want to) and add particle FX (also, only if I want to).

Now, once your game is loaded up and you're in a game session, Alt + Tab to minimize the game and load up Cheat Engine.

Now, hit the little icon in the upper left hand corner of Cheat Engine that looks like a computer with a magnifying glass. Select the Diablo III.exe process from the list that appears and click 'Open'.

Next, click the button to the left side middle area of Cheat Engine that says "Memory View". Click in the memory and press CTRL + F and copy and paste whichever character class appearance code below into the search. Change the type of search to array of byte and click 'OK' to search.

The following character class codes are for the male characters only! If you have a female character, you will need to make a male character to be able to do this for now.

In the screenshot below, you'll notice I used the CRUSADER's morph code, because my character I am trying to morph is the Crusader class.

When you click 'OK', Cheat Engine will scan Diablo III's memory for that line of code and take you right to it. Now, you need to replace the AppearanceSet SNO with one of the monster appearances that I have archived at the bottom of this article. I have all of the monsters from the vanilla game, plus Reaper of Souls and every new monster released in patches including the upcoming Ruins of Sescheron patch already archived for you. It took me a ton of time, but I feel that is the only way most people will be able to use this trick. I knew most people wouldn't have the time or patience to have to go spend hours sifting through the CASC files for the SNOs of the monster they wanted to play as. A quick note on the Ruins of Sescheron monsters is that they will only work once the patch is officially released -- or they'll work now if you play on the PTR.

The AppearanceSet SNO is the FIRST set of four bytes that I have posted in my archive at the end of the article. For example, I am morphing into the Dark Anarch from Reaper of Souls, so I am going to copy the value 4D A5 04 00.

After you copy that, go back over to the memory view of Cheat Engine and paste it over what ever value comes AFTER 07 00 00 00. In the case of the Crusader, the value that I am writing over the top of is 89 A6 03 00.

You'll want to either paste over it or simply type over it with the monster's AppearanceSet SNO, which in my case I'll be using 4D A5 04 00.

STEP 2. Swapping The Player Animations

Great! Now you just replaced the model your character uses with that of a monster. It will not show up in your game until you transition an area. You can do this by walking through an area transition (such as from New Tristram into the inn) or you can use a town portal if you're in the wilderness to teleport you back to town. Once your character model is loaded into the new place, it will be the monster!

BUT...

YOU'RE NOT DONE. It only swapped the model, not the animations, so it will look pretty funny unless you do this next step too. If you look in the memory view, you'll need to find your character's AnimSet SNO. This should be easy. Look for 68 03 00 00. It should be on the same area of screen you're already viewing for the AppearanceSet SNO. The set of four bytes directly UNDER 68 03 00 00 is your AnimSet SNO -- NOT 68 03 00 00 itself, but directly under as shown in the image below. You'll see that the Crusader's default AnimSet SNO is 9C A6 03 00.

Now, go back to the code in my archive at the end of the article and relocate which monster you are replacing your character with. The set of four bytes directly below the AppearanceSet SNO is the AnimSet SNO. Copy and paste that over the top of your character's default AnimSet SNO. You won't need to reload the model with an area transition for the animations to change. Just click in the game to make your character run and you'll notice the animations change instantly.

***IMPORTANT NOTE*** The monsters do not have animations for every skill. Oddly and pleasantly surprisingly enough though, they will play pretty cool animations for a number of skills depending on which monster you are using and which skill you are executing. For example, the assault beast has some pretty cool animations when using the Barbarian's skills. Just a hint! ;-]

STEP 3. Adding Particle FX

Some of the monsters in Diablo III have pretty sick particle FX over them when you encounter them. In order to capture the full level of badass playing as said monsters can be, you'll want to add the particle effects. In my example of the Act 5 Dark Anarch, he ALSO has pretty cool particle FX. Take a look at how he looks without them, then I'll show you how to add them and show you a picture to give you an idea of how big of a difference it makes.

Sure, he looks cool enough without the particles, but I'll go ahead and show you how to add them anyways. In the archive I have created below the article, you'll notice some monsters have a section that says 'Particles:'. This is the hexadecimal code that tells the game which set of particles to display for them. In order to give your character particles, right where you left off in the memory view display, press CTRL + F and search for "1B 00 00 00". Press 'OK' and this will take you to your character's particle storage.

Simply copy and paste the monster's particle bytes over the top of it and you'll have the particle FX actively added to your character! However, just like when swapping a model, you need to go through an area transition to have them display first.

... and here is our little friend with dark vapors of death coming off of his lower half.

STEP 3. Changing The Player's Size Scale

Right off the bat when you start morphing, you're probably going to notice your player monster isn't as big as the monsters you actually encounter in the wilderness. This is most common with the Barbarian and Crusader, because their size scale is smaller than the Wizard's, Demon Hunter's, etc.

This can be remedied by adjusting the size scale. If you are a Barbarian, then cast the spell that morphs you into the big hulking berserker form and pause the game. If you're a Crusader, cast Akarat's Champion and pause the game. Now, with the game paused, Alt + Tab back to Cheat Engine and do a scan for the value '1050247168'. This is the player's size modifier while he is morphed either into the Barbarian berserk or Akarat's Champion. To do this copy and paste the value '1050247168' into Cheat Engine as shown in the image below and press the 'First Scan' button.

This will cause a list of a few memory regions of the game showing that exact value to be listed in the panel on the left, as seen below.

Go back into the game, at this point, and unpause it. Allow the duration of the skill to run out so you shrink back to normal. Then once you're small again, Alt + Tab back out and look for the memory listing that has changed to '0'. There may be a few zeros, but you'll have to try adjusting all of them until you find the one that changes your size. In most cases, there's normally only one at first so it's easy.

Then you can set the size modifier to whatever you want. I recommend...

1050000000 if you are morphing the Barbarian

1035000000 if you are morphing the Crusader

... and I recommend these values, because that's the needed size adjustment offset to make most monster models the right size when playing as each of those character classes. Now, there are exceptions. In a few of the monster listings I have tested out from the archive below, I have made notes on what size scale works best for them. For example, the Colossal Golgor needs a way bigger size adjustment to look right. Feel free to play with this and play as whatever size of monster you want.

That's pretty much it for morphing. I'd love for you all to make some videos of doing this and link me to them at the end of the article.

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

19 months agofrom New York City

I can't look up the codes for anything new, cause Blizzard changed their encryption and made it impossible. It's a good thing I got everything from RoS and vanilla when I did!

D2freak

19 months ago

Hello once again. just wanted to know if you will be adding in the necromancer codes once he gets out ?

HELLSHOT

2 years ago

i need your help this has totally confused me and i need a step by step from you i wanna play malthael

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

2 years agofrom New York City

Yes. Find the actor code for the wings and swap out the AppearaneSet and AnimSet SNOs.

Marts

2 years ago

hey Jared do you know how to add wings to a character using some code like that? thank you

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

3 years agofrom New York City

I just tested it out again and mine works perfectly fine.

Fenrir

3 years ago

i dont know how it is now with patch 2.4 but i tried to change it like in the tutorial but my CE says if im looking for the class code that there is nothing found. Did something change? but nice guide would be really cool if it would work for me.

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

3 years agofrom New York City

Technically there is. I don't know the codes, but if you get CascView and a hex editor, you can look up the actor file of the weapon and see what the appearance set SNO is and then look up the appearance set of something small and invisible like a beetle and replace the model of the weapon the same way you swapped your character model.

D2freak

3 years ago

hey man don't know if you remember me from your previous article on " playing with monsters in Diablo 2 " well , just wanted to say that ive been waiting a while for this and so far so great! you know you're the man ! but i just had a quick question. well im Trying to play as Malthael and its working fine But when equiping a weapon on my character i can see it pop up on Malthael's hands and it looks Weird.. just wanted to know if there's a way to make it invisible xD well thanks for reading this !

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

3 years agofrom New York City

^ Glad you figured out what was going wrong for some people. Kudos and thanks for contributing.

Albert112

3 years ago

Thanks so much for the great guide.

I think I have a solution for the above issues with the animations. When I first started editing the memory I had it set to 5 or 6 columns wide and when I went below the 68030000 line to add in the animation value I was editing the wrong address.

If you set your view to only show 2 columns as in the screenshots that should allow you to edit the correct value.

Hope this helps, also heres hoping we get the codes for female characters at some point.

Gorb'

3 years ago

I tried with different class and monster, the same CTD occurs when i move. I tend to use the barbarian but the same problem occurs with the others.

Bah, the problem seems to come from my computer, anyway, there's nothing more awesome than playing as monsters, keep your good works on showing us how to do it ! ;)

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

3 years agofrom New York City

That's strange. I know if you copy the animation wrong it will CTD. Have you tried using a different character class and a different monster? Which character class did you use? Everyone else I know who has done it, it works perfectly for them.

Gorb'

3 years ago

That a really cool tutorial there, thanks a lot !

Even though, changing skin works well, each time i tried to change animation, i've got an instant CTD when i move.

AUTHOR

jaredbangerter

3 years agofrom New York City

Credit to God for giving me all the knowledge and wisdom I could ever desire, but glad you enjoyed it. ;]

XunamoR

3 years ago

Although I do not intend on using your mod I want to congratulate you for your achievement, hat's off. Also you sharing is this amount of information is mind blowing.

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)

Google AdSense Host API

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Facebook Login

You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Maven

This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)

We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.

Conversion Tracking Pixels

We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics

Author Google Analytics

This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)

Comscore

ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)

Amazon Tracking Pixel

Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)